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WHAT IS POLITICS?

Andrew Heywood

ln the early stages of academic study students are invariably encouraged to reflect on what the

subject itself is about, usually by being asked questions such as 'What is History?', 'What is

Economics? or'What is Astrophysics?'. Such reflections have the virtue of letting students

know what they are in for: what they are about to study and what issues or topics are going to

be raised. Unfortunately for students of politics, however, the question 'What is politics?' is

more likely to generate confusion rather than bring comfort and reassurance. The problem is

that debate,'argument and disagreement lie at the very heart of politics, and the definition of

'the political' is no exceptionl.

Defining Politics

Politics, in its broadest sense, is the activity through which people make, preserve
and amend
the general rules under which they live. As such, politics is inextricably linked to the phenomena

of conflict and cooperation. On the one hand, the existence of rival opinions, different wants,

competing needs or opposing interests guarantees disagreement about the rules under
which
people live' On the other hand, people recognise that in order to influence
these rules or ensure
that they are upheld, they must work with others. This is why the heart of the politics
is often
portrayed as a process of conflict-resolution, in which rival views or competing
interests are
reconciled with one another. However, politics in this broad sense is better thought of
as a
search for conflict-resolution than as its achievement, since not all conflicts are - or can be -
resolved.
Nevertheless, when examined more closely, this broad definition of politics raises as many

questions as it answers. For instance, does 'politics' refer to a particular way in which rules are

made, preserved or amended (that is, peacefully, by debate), or to all such processes?

Similarly, is politics practised in all social contexts and institutions, or only in certain ones (that

is, government and public life)? There are, in other words, a number of more specific definitions

of politics; indeed, it sometimes appears that there are as many definitions as there are

authorities willing to offer an opinion on the subject. The main definitions nevertheless can be

broken dorrvn, into four categories: politics as the art of government; politics as public affairs;

politics as compromise; and politics as power.

Politics as the art of government

'Politics is not a science.,, but an art', Chancellor Bismarck is reputed to have told the German

Reichstag. The art Bismarck had in mind was the art of government, the exercise of control

within society through the making and enforcement of collective decisions. This is perhaps the

classical definition of politics, having developed from the original meaning of the term in Ancient

Greece.

The word'politics' is derived from polrs, literally meaning city-state. Ancient Greek society was

divided into a collection of independent city-states, each of which possessed its own system of

government. The largest and most influential of these was Athens, often portrayed as the cradle

of democratic government. ln this light, politics can be understood to refer to the affairs of the

pof's, in effect, 'what concerns the pofs'. The modern form of this definiiion is therefore: 'what

concerns the state'. This view of politics is cleady evident in the everyday use of the term:

people are $aid to be 'in politics' when they hold public office, or to be 'entering politics' when

they seek to do so. lt is also a definition which academic political science has helped to

perpetuate.
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ln many ways the notion that politics amounts to'what concerns the state' is the traditional view

of the discipline, reflected in the tendency for academic study to focus upon the personnel and

machinery of government. To study politics is in essence to study government, or more broadly,

to study the exercise of authority. David Easton thus defined politics as the 'authoritative

allocation of values'2. By this he meant that politics encompasses the various processes

through which government responds to pressures from the larger society, in particular by

allocating benefits, rewards or penalties. 'Authoritative values' are therefore ones that are

widely accepted in society and considered binding by the mass of citizens. ln this view, politics

is associated with 'policy', with formal or authoritative decisions that establish a plan of action

for the community,

However, this definition offers a highly restricted view of politics. Politics is what takes place

within a 'polity', a system of social organisation centred upon the machinery of government.

Politics can therefore be found in cabinet rooms, legislative chambers, government

departments and the like, and it is engaged in by a limited and specific group of people, notably

politicians, civil servants and lobbyists. This means that most people, most institutions and most

social activities are 'outside' politics. Businesses, schools and other educational institutions,

community groups, families and so on, are in this sense 'non-political', because they are not

engaged in'running the country'.

This definition can, however, be narrowed still further. This is evident in the tendency to treat

politics as the equivalent of party politics. ln other words, the realm of 'the political' is restricted

to those state actors who are consciously motivated by ideological beliefs and who seek to

advance them through membership of a formal organisation like a political party. This is the

sense in which politicians are described as 'political' whereas civil servants are seen as 'non-

political', so long as, of course, they act in a neutral and professional fashion. Similarly, judges
are taken to be'non-political'figures while they interpret the law impaftially and in accordance

with the av.ailable evidence, but may be accused of being 'political' if their judgement is

influenced by personal preferences or some other form of bias.

Politics as public affairs

The second conception of politics moves it beyond the narrow realm of government to what is

thought of as 'public life' or 'public affairs'. ln other words, the distinction between 'the political'

and 'the non-political' coincides with the division between an essentially public sphere of life and

what can be thought of as a private sphere. Such a view of politics is often traced back to the

work of the Tamous Greek philosopher, Aristotle. ln Politics, Aristotle declared that 'Man is by

nature a political animal's, by which he meant that it is only within a political community that

human beings can live'the good life'. Politics is, then, an ethical activity concerned with creating

a Just society'; it is what Aristotle called the 'master science'.

However, where should the line between 'public' life and 'private' life be drawn? The traditional

distinction between the public realm and the private realm conforms to the division between the

state and civil society. The institutions of the state - the apparatus of government, the courts,

the police, the army, the society security system and so forth - can be regarded as'public' in the

sense that they are responsible for the collective organisation of community life. Moreover, they

are funded at the public's expense, out of taxation. By contrast, civil society consists of

institutions like the family and kinship groups, private businesses, trade unions, clubs,

community groups and so on, that are 'private' in the sense that they are set up and funded by

individual citizens to satisfy their own interests, rather than those of the larger society. On the

basis of this 'public/private' division, politics is restricted to the activities of the state itself and

the responsibilities which are properly exercised by public bodies. Those areas of life in which
 individuals can and do manage for themselves - economic, social, domestic, personal, cultural,

artistic and so on - are therefore clearly'non-political'.

An alternative 'publiciprivate' divide is sometimes expressed in a further and more subfle

distinction, namely between 'the political' and 'the personal'. Although civil society can be

distinguished from the state, it nevertheless contains a range of institutions that are thought of

as 'public' in the wider sense that they are open institutions, operating in public and to which the

public has access. lt is therefore possible to argue that politics takes place in workplace.

Nevertheless, although this view regards institutions like businesses, community groups, clubs

and trade unions as 'public', it remains a restricted view of politics. According to this
perspective, politics does not, and should not, infringe upon 'personal' affairs and institutions.

Feminist thinkers in particular have pointed out that this implies that politics effectively stops at

the front door; it does not take place in the family, in domestic life or in personal relationships.

Politicians, for example, tend to classify their own sexual behaviour or 1nancial affairs as

'personal' matters, thereby denying that they have political significance in the sense that they do

not touch on their conduct of public affairs.

Politics as compromise and consensus

The third conception of politics refers not so much to the arena within which politics is

conducted as to the way in which decisions are made. Specifically, politics is seen as a

particular means of resolving conflict, namely by compromise, conciliation and negotiation,

rather than through a resort to force.and naked power. This is what is implied when politics is

portrayed as 'the art of the possible'. Such a definition is evident in the everyday use of the

term. For instance, a'political'solution to a problem implies peaceful debate and arbitration, by

contrast with what is often called a 'military' solution. Bernard Crick, a leading proponent of this

view, defined politics as follows:

 Politics (is) the activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are

conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to

the welfare and the survival of the whole communitya.

The key to politics is therefore a wide dispersal of power. Accepting that conflict is inevitable,

Crick argued that when social groups and interests possess power they must be conciliated,

they cannot merely be crushed. This is why he portrayed politics as'that solution to the problem

of order which chooses conciliation rather than violence and coercion's. Such a view of politics

reflects a resolute faith in the efficacy of debate and discussion, as well as the belief that society

is characterised by consensus rather than by irreconcilable conflict. ln other words, the

disagreements that exist can be resolved without a resort to intimidation and violence. Critics,

however, point out that Crick's conception of politics is heavily biased towards the form of

politics that takes place in western pluralist democracies; in effect, he equated politics with

electoral choice and party competition. As a result, his model has little to tell us about, say, one-

party statesor military regimes.

Politics as power

The fourth definition of politics is both the broadest and the most radical. Rather than confining

politics to a parlicular sphere - the government, the state or the 'public' realm - this sees politics

at work in all social activities and in every corner of human existence. As Adrian Leftwich put it:

'Politics is at the heart of a// collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in

a// human groups, institutions and societies'6. ln this sense, politics takes place at every level of

social interaction; it can be found within families and amongst small groups of friends just as

much as within nations and on the global stage. However, what is it that is distinctive about

political activity? What marks off politics from any other form of social behaviour?
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At its broadest, politics concerns the production, distribution and use of resources in the course

of social existence. Politics, in essence, is power: the ability to achieve a desired outcome,

through whatever means. This notion was neatly summed up in the title of Harold Lasswell's

book Politics: Who Gets What, When, How?7. True, politics is about diversity and conflict, but

this is enriched by the existence of scarcity, by the simple fact that while human needs and

desires are infinite, the resources available to satisfy them are always limited. politics is

therefore a struggle over scarce resources, and power is the means through which this struggle

is conducted.
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Advocates of this view of power include feminists and Maxists. Modern feminists have shown

pafticular interest in the idea of 'the political'. This arises from the fact that conventional

definitions of politics effectively exclude women from political life. Women have traditionally

been confined to a 'private' sphere of existence, centred on the family and domestic

responsibilities. Radicalfeminists have therefore attacked the'public/private'divide, proclaiming

instead that 'the personal is the political'. This slogan neatly encapsulates the radical feminist

belief that what goes on in domestic, family and personal life iq intensely political, indeed it is

the basis of all other political struggles. Clearly, a more radical notion of politics underlies this

position. This was summed up by Kate Millett as, 'power-structured relationships, arrangements

whereby one group of persons is controlled by another'8. Feminists are therefore concerned

with 'the politics of everyday life'. ln their view, relationships within the family, between

husbands and wives, or between parents and children, are every bit as political as relationships

between employers and workers, or between government and citizens.

Maxists have used the term politics in two senses. On one level, Marx used 'politics' in a

conventional sense to refer to the apparatus of the state. ln lhe Communist Manifesfo he thus

referred to political power as 'merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another'e.
Fon F,4am pgliucs, together with law and culture, are part of a 'superstructure', distinct from the

eoo,no,rnic 'base', which is the real foundation of social life. However, he did not see the

economrc'base' and the legal and the political 'superstructure'as entirely separate, but believed

that the 'superstructure' arose out of, and reflected, the economic 'base'. At a deeper level,

political power is therefore rooted in the class system; as V. l. Lenin put it: 'Politics is the most

concentrated form of economics'. Far from believing that politics can be confined to the state

and a narrow public sphere, Maxists can be said to believe that'the economic is political'. From

this perspective, civil society, characterised as Maxists believe it to be by class struggle, is the

very heart of politics.

References

1
For a broader discussion of politics, government and the state see Heywood, A. Politicql Theory: An

u
Leftwich, A. ckwell, 64.
7
t
Lasswell, H. McGraw-Hill.
Millett, K.1l
e
Marx, K and : penguin, 105.